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Dual Economic Structure, Surplus Labour and Rural-Urban Migration

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Growth Mechanisms and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Economy

Abstract

Using official data and survey data from the Chinese Household Income Project survey, this study evaluates the surplus labor in China and Japan based on the Lewisian dual economy model, estimates the change in wage differentials between unskilled and skilled workers in China and Japan, and investigates the determinants of the wage differentials between migrant and local urban workers in China. The results suggest that surplus labor decreased during the period from 1990 to 2005 in China following the development process in Japan, which indicates that the Chinese economy has approached the Lewisian turning point. However, in contrast to Japan, the wage differential between skilled and unskilled workers is larger in China. Differences in education attainment, which is a major influential factor, widened the wage differentials between migrant and local urban workers in China in the 2000s. Discrimination against migrant workers widens the wage differentials. This suggests that labor market segmentation by a set of institutions, such as the household registration system, widens the wage differentials even when the surplus labor has decreased in China.

A part of this chapter is a revised version of: Minami, R., & Ma, X. (2010). The Lewisian turning point of Chinese economy: Comparison with Japanese experience. China Economic Journal, 3(2), 165–181. Copyright © reused by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics, Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan

    Xinxin Ma

  2. Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan

    Ryoshin Minami

Authors
  1. Xinxin Ma
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  2. Ryoshin Minami
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Correspondence to Xinxin Ma .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan

    Xinxin Ma

  2. Faculty of Economics, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Cheng Tang

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 9.6.

Table 9.6 Results of wage function
Full size table

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Ma, X., Minami, R. (2022). Dual Economic Structure, Surplus Labour and Rural-Urban Migration. In: Ma, X., Tang, C. (eds) Growth Mechanisms and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3858-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3858-0_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-19-3857-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-3858-0

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